The Woman who Knows All
Shukai The Senkaimon opened in World of the Living and Raian Getsueikirite leaped out at full speed. Immediately he could sense a large fluctuation of reiatsu near Japan. Gritting his teeth, he increased his speed and flew with renewed vigor towards the source. It only took him a few moments to reach the site of the battle. He spotted Seireitou Kawahiru amongst the ruin of the forest in which the battle had taken place. His best friend was in Bankai state, but there didn't seem to be any sign of an enemy. He must've just missed it. "Seireitou-san!" Raian shouted, drawing the silver-haired man's attention. Seireitou was snapped out of his daze and his head immediately darted to the source of the noise, "Raian?! What in God's name are you doing here?!" he shouted back. "I tried to reach you before things got out of hand. Looks like I was too late." Raian replied, gritting his teeth. "Let's go down there," Seireitou suggested, motioning to a portion of the forest that was not destroyed, "You can fill me in then." Both Shinigami flashed down to the location Seireitou had motioned to. From there, Raian explained about the situation in Soul Society and Rider City to Seireitou. But he especially noted the freshly declared war by Akujin and his cronies. Seireitou clenched his fist as he absorbed the information. "So... Rider City is gone too?" he grunted, "How could things have gotten this far?" "Things look pretty grim, Sei." Raian continued, "Akujin and his troops are nearly unstoppable at this point." "No, there is hope." Seireitou snapped, "Akujin considers we Yonkō special. We can all resist that Bankai Ensnaring Device of his and we each possess Bankai that equal his own. The four of us need to get together and fight him again." "Foolish younger brother." a disembodied voice came from above. Both Raian and Seireitou quickly shifted their gaze to the skies above them in time to see Kamui descending; his lavender hair glowing in the intense sunlight. "I sensed your battle with this Akujin. He is far beyond either of your levels. Even if you both were to fight him together, you'd both die." Kamui explained, drawing concerned and frustrated looks from Raian and Seireitou. "The only thing that can bring about the halt of the end of the world is a Shukai user." Seireitou rolled his eyes, "Now whose the 'foolish brother'?" he questioned, "Shukai is a legend. Nothing exists beyond Bankai. If there was such a thing, you and I would've reached that level by now." "It's not so simple, Seireitou." Kamui snapped, "We Kawahiru are not born with the rights to Shukai. We could train for centuries and never see such a level of power." "Are you trying to tell me that Sōzōshin such as us are incapable of achieving a form beyond Bankai? If one existed, surely it would be the Sōzōshin who were trusted to wield it." Seireitou replied. Kamui sighed and shook his head, "No. We Sōzōshin play a very different role in the universe than that of the Shinigami. We may be naturally more powerful but there once existed Shinigami that could surpass even our best in might and spiritual power." he explained, "The Shukai users were the balancers of the universe. Without them, we would have all be gone long ago." "If what you say is true, then who all are capable of using this third release?" Seireitou questioned. Kamui unfolded his arms and extended his right index finger towards Raian, drawing a very shocked response from both Seireitou and Raian. "He is a direct descendant of the ones that once used Shukai. Nevertheless, I am not wise enough to give you all the answers. But I know one that does know the answers we seek." Kamui continued. "Who's that...?" Seireitou asked, still in shock. "Majo Hisakata. A fortune telling witch in Rukongai. She is the one that gave the Shukai prophecy millennia ago. If anyone knows, she does." Kamui replied. "Then I suggest we go see this witch." Raian finally chimed in, "I don't know much about this Shukai, or why you say I am capable of it when you two are not, but if something isn't done to stop Akujin, our way of life could be over at the end of this war." "Interesting..." said a voice from behind them. Raian, Seireitou, and Kamui wheeled around in shock to see where the sound had originated, only to see the entirety of Tiro con L'arco gathered above them. "So you really did survive my final attack." Adolfo Benttino sneered, glaring directly at Raian. "But the Human World is our territory now. You can't hide from me here. I'll correct my mistakes this time." As he finished speaking, two large pillars of blue flames erupted behind Raian's group, concealing two Quincy within; Johann Fichte and Odo Marquard. Johann moved to face Raian while Odo turned to do the same with Seireitou. Just as Kamui himself was about to join the fray, a sight that shocked all present presented itself; Akujin himself had returned, landing directly in front of the lavender-haired man. Seireitou, in particular, was shocked. "I apologize, Kawahiru Seireitou. When we met, just a few hours ago, I told you that you would next see me as ruler of the universe. I fibbed. You see, all three of you here together is too big an opportunity." Akujin stated menacingly. "Tiro con L'arco... attack!" Road Block A gargantuan explosion ripped the ground asunder as Seirietou and Odo clashed. Whirling around, Seireitou swung his blade low, aiming to catch his opponent's ribcage, however, Odo, after creating his gauntlets of reishi, was able to parry just in time, knocking the silver-haired Shinigami away. "He's tough..." Seireitou thought to himself as he angled himself for another attack. "Allow me to guess your thoughts." Odo sneered, "You're thinking I'm tough, correct?" Seirietou merely glared back, "Are you proud of yourself for deducing that? Warriors of significant strength should be able to discern one another's thoughts. I would be disappointed if you didn't know what I was thinking." he spat. Odo clapped his reishi-enveloped hands, "Well said, Shinigami. Before we fight, I'll tell you this. I have the strongest Blut in all of the Impero Nascosto. Even the mighty Kawahiru can't beat me." he goaded. Seireitou snarled at the insult and charged, causing another explosion upon his impact with his foe. Meanwhile, Raian faced off against Johann. The tall Arrancar stood with his arms folded and a sinister grin on his face. Raian stood in a similarly relaxed pose, holding the large form of his Shikai against his shoulder, staring his enemy down. "What a turn destiny has presented us." Johann chuckled, covering his mouth slightly with his sleeve. "What's an Arrancar doing with a bunch of Quincy?" Raian asked, beginning to show a bit of annoyance on his face. "You wouldn't understand." Johann replied cryptically, "Destiny reserved this space for me. Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! What a glorious occasion indeed!" Raian swung his sword down, creating a small shockwave, his annoyance now having reached the boiling point, "Enough. Let's get this started..." he snapped. Johann's evil grin became far more snake-like. He reached into his robe, pulling out a medallion roughly the size of his palm with a Quincy insignia engraved into it. As he did, white energy began to glow in the crevices of the engraving before leaking out slowly. "That's the Bankai Stealing Device that Sei-san mentioned, isn't it? Sorry, but that won't work on me." Raian growled. Johann let off a psychotic laugh, "HAHAHA! I don't plan to use this on you, Shinigami. I'm releasing what's already inside!" Raian's eyes widened with shock and confusion. "BANKAI!" Johann hissed, releasing a massive pillar of energy from the medallion. If Destiny Permits Us... Seireitou's Assault Using a low sweep of his blade, Seireitou attempted to bifurcate Odo in one swipe, however, the much larger Quincy leaped over Seireitou's attack, spinning in mid-air to deliver and elbow jab to Seireitou's spine, which landed successfully, causing yet another explosion upon Seireitou's impact with the ground. Seireitou emerged from the smoke pillar moments later, skidding back to assess the situation. "This is strange. When Quincy fight, they have to switch between their defensive blut and their offensive blut. No two can be used at once. But this guy..." Seireitou pondered as he adjusted his posture. "Good, you've figured it out." Odo cackled, "Of Tiro con L'arco, I'm Quincy 'R', the Rock! Lord Akujin calls me that because I can use both Blut at once!" Odo launched himself forward with tremendous speed, aiming a gauntlet-enhanced punch right for Seireitou's face. Just before he could reach his destination, however, he was slashed from his shoulder down to his waist by Seireitou's sword, causing a fountain of blood to erupt from his body and a shocked look to wash over his face. "Did you think that would intimidate me? Blut has to be consciously kept up. Concentrating on both Blut at once is not only difficult, but takes heavy discipline. When you attacked me, your thoughts were on causing as much damage as possible, so your defensive Blut suffered as a result." Seireitou explained. "What use is being able to use both at once if you can't even use them properly in the first place?" Concentrating a vast amount of reishi into his fingertip, Odo fired a Heilig Pfeil towards Seireitou, which the silver-haired man swatted away with a swipe of his katana. Odo gritted his teeth, snatching a medallion out of his flack jacket, which began to release black energy. "Bankai!" Odo declared, releasing tremendous amounts of black spiritual energy from the medal. "I stole this Bankai during the Impero's initial excursion into Soul Society. I believe the user called it Kōkihekireki sono Kurohyō when he used it. That was before I killed him!" "So you have a stolen Bankai, eh?" Seireitou snarled, "Funny. It doesn't feel all that powerful!" With a flick of his sword, Seireitou wordlessly transformed his Zanpakutō into its Shikai. Around the same time, Odo unleashed a black panther effigy from the medal, an apparent ability of the stolen Bankai. Seireitou, again wordlessly, unleashed his Kirisaki ability, dissolving the attack before it hit him. "I should've expected as much from you, Seireitou." Odo sneered, "Even Bankai isn't enough to defeat you. I'll just result to this.... Quincy... Vollständig!" A pillar of energy erupted from Odo, blowing an intense wind over the battlefield. When the pillar shattered, Odo was revealed, being cloaked in his entirety by an aura of reishi. "Now you end... Kawahiru Seireitou!" Odo declared. The War Powers Fall... An earth shaking explosion tore through the ground and as the smoke cleared, Akujin stood tall, holding Kamui Kawahiru by the neck. The mighty Kawahiru dangled from his captor's strong arm, seemingly lifeless, though he was actually just unconscious. A large chunk of Akujin's armor was missing, and the skin from the damaged portions was slowly regenerating, like that of a Hollow's. "You all disappoint me. First, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto cannot stand before me and now, even the mighty Kamui Kawahiru falls at my feet." Akujin sighed in disgust. "Still, I have to give you credit. Even your brother, one of the four war potentials, couldn't do as much damage to me as you did. You were a worthy foe." Akujin let go of his grip, causing Kamui to slump down on the ground beneath his feet. As his wounds finished regenerating, he noticed that his action had gained the attention of Seireitou Kawahiru, who was fighting Odo nearby. "KAMUI!" Seireitou roared, charging in Akujin's direction. Odo, however, flashed in between them, giving Seireitou a wicked grin, "Now, now. Your fight is with me. How rude." he mocked. "Get out of my way!" Seireitou snarled, his anger reaching its peak. "Bankai!" In the commotion, Seireitou couldn't see the malicious grin that had come across Odo's face. The Quincy reached for a far more intricate medallion, resting on his flack jacket. The explosion that had marked Seireitou's ascension to Bankai was fading. "Shinwaryeok Han..." Seireitou began, but was cut off by the formation of a large light in front of him. The light slammed into the Shinigami, tearing the formation of his Bankai right off his body and reverting things back to the Shikai form. Seireitou stood in utter disbelief as he felt his Bankai being torn from his body and sucked into the medallion his foe now had. "But...how...?" Seireitou asked, defeat showing for the fist time in his voice. "Did you not realize what our battle was, Kawahiru Seireitou." Akujin said from a distance. "It was a test of my hypothesis. You all can resist our Bankai Stealing Devices, that much is true. However, that is why I had my second in command, Muramasa Neikan, prepare a stronger medallion. Once I saw the average ones couldn't steal your Bankai, I simply returned to base, grabbed these new ones and returned to find Tiro con L'arco." "Like I said, Seirietou..." Odo picked up from there. "This is the end for you!" Unleashing! Meanwhile, Raian stood in utter awe and shock as Johann unleashed the Bankai from his medallion. He was even more shocked that the Bankai within was none other than Sanruida Sōansha; the Bankai of his murdered brother, Mashū Getsueikirite. Johann sneered in utter jubilation at the pain he was causing his Shinigami foe. "You're angry... aren't you?" Raian said in a low tone, drooping his head so that his hair covered his eyes. Johann was taken slightly aback by this. He didn't know whether to answer the question or to simply laugh, so he laughed. "I know you are... Mashū...!" Raian continued, a dense reiatsu slamming the area of their battle, drawing a speechless, shocked look on Johann's face. "I feel your anger!" Gathering what energy he could, Johann fired an energy blast from the Bankai of his medallion towards Raian. The Shinigami didn't even bother raising his head, merely lifting his arm and blocking the attack, albeit at the loss of his sleeve. Johann's eyes widened as fear began to seep in. Memories seeped into Raian's head. Memories of his brother when they were younger and of the promises he had made to protect him. Promises he had failed to keep. Tears streamed from Raian's eyes, dripping mercilessly onto the ground beneath him. "How disgusted you must be... that your Bankai... the one that you had worked so hard to achieve, despite the level of difficulty it presented your body... would be used by such an utter weakling!!" Raian hissed. With one swipe of his blade, which unleashed a massive Getsuga Tenshō, Raian annihilated Johann, cutting the Arrancar completely in two and all but incinerating his medallion, freeing Mashū's Bankai from its prison. His eyes again visible, they glowed such an intense color of blue, that it was as if the sun itself was reflecting in them. Glancing over, he had just enough time to see Seireitou being overcome by an attack from his own stolen Bankai, slamming his best friend into a nearby boulder, leaving him hanging lifelessly. Raian flashed over, standing between his fallen friend and Odo. "R...Raian... I'm...sor.." Seireitou attempted to say, "Don...Don't use...Ba..Ban...Bankai..." Raian arched his head, so that he could view Seireitou out of one eye. As if by a last act of kindness, the life-giving energy of Mashū's freed Bankai entered the broken man, healing him of all his wounds and restoring his energy completely before vanishing. Seireitou, however, was still left feeling utterly exhausted from the attack he had just suffered. Raian narrowed his eyes at the sight of this and looked down, "Thank you brother... I can finally mourn you." he thought, tears still streaming down his face, leaving red marks on Raian's skin in their wake. Seireitou felt his consciousness slipping and cursed himself for being so careless with his own Bankai. "Don't fret, my friend." Raian said, a new sense of righteous fury in his voice. "Sleep. When you awaken, everyone on this battlefield will be dead." Seireitou's sleep, however, would not come. Tremendous spiritual pressure fell on the area, creating a large amount of wind and the feeling as if the very air they were breathing weighed several tons. Seireitou's eyes widened as much as they ever had. The shock was not just with him. Odo, Akujin, and the remaining members of Tiro con L'arco had all stopped their activities to see what was happening. Akujin looked the most shocked out of the group. Raian lifted his large Shikai to point directly at Odo, a fierce glow present in his eyes. For an instant, it seemed as though all sound had been muted, as the silence was deafening. Then, a single loud hiss, as though someone had inhaled air through a microphone, broke the silence. And then, Raian shattered existence. "Ban...KAI!" he roared. The explosion caused by Raian's eruption into Bankai tore the ground beneath him asunder completely. He emerged from the smoke, the coattails of his robe flapping violently in the wind created by the reiatsu of his Bankai. Seireitou, who was watching from behind, immediately noticed that it was no normal Bankai Raian had just activated. He had ascended. Bankai Stage 2 to had appeared. The Quincy, Amy Lee, in a moment of irrational thinking, flashing in front of him, attempting to use her Spirit Weapon to shoot a hole in his chest. In one swift motion, however, he bifurcated her; the blood from her fatal wound splattering across his uncaring face. Somehow finding the strength to walk, Seireitou approached Raian from the side. Raian's eyes slid backwards in their sockets to see who was approaching him. The sight of his eyes caused Seireitou to stop cold in his tracks. "That's not Raian... Something changed just now..." Seireitou thought, staring deep into Raian's cold, unforgiving eyes. "Go on ahead. Have your fun. But this one; this 'Odo' is mine." Raian's grip tightened on his blade's hilt, "Have it your way. Everyone else, however... shall die by my own hand...!" Black energy, outlined in blue, exploded from Raian as he launched himself away, a trail of energy following his path through the Human World's sky. As he neared Akujin's location, Adolfo Benttino, Asumu Godai, and Pietro Badoglio appeared around him, preparing their own attacks. In one flash of black and blue energy, Raian unleashed a widespread Getsuga Tenshō, killing them all instantly from its overbearing power. He impacted with the ground as he landed in front of Akujin, ripping the earth from beneath his feet as his searing glare tore through Akujin. "We meet again at last, Akujin." Raian hissed, his voice holding more venom in it than before. The tables of destiny were set. Raian had defeated Akujin years ago during the initial Crisis, and now it had come full circle. Both mortal enemies were now facing one another once again. "Indeed we do, Getsueikirite Raian." Akujin replied with shocked eyes. "I've come.... to choke the life from your corpse....!!!!" Raian snarled, and black energy exploded all around them. Meanwhile, Seireitou regained his stance against his Quincy foe, Odo. The large Quincy laughed at the futile efforts of his Shinigami opponent. "What can you do?! I have your Bankai! I have Vollständig! It is hopeless to fight me now!" he roared in his triumph. Seireitou snarled, "You think that you can strike me down because you stole Shinwaryeok Hanullim? How naive. Why do you think that I was feared as the Shiroyasha for so many years? It is because, in all this time, the tenacity that I have toward fighting... has never once been rivaled!" Odo snapped his head back, startled by Seireitou's response while, at the same time, preparing to attack once again. "Besides. What kind of warrior would I be to lie on my ass while Raian is fighting with everything he's got!" the silver-haired man roared, "Thank you, Mashū... Because of you, he has all the resolve he'll ever need. Rest in peace, old friend." With that, Seireitou lunged and slashed brutally at Odo, cutting the Quincy limb from limb, blood drenching his silver-hair... The Shiroyasha had appeared once again...! End....!